Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”?

Posted by zaroth on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @11:27PM
from the ask-hn dept.

Received a very strange email just now (actually 11:08pm EST) which came from [email protected] and Gmail says passes all DKIM and SPF.

The subject is:

Important Information about your Amazon.com Account

The entire body is as follows;

Hello,

We’re contacting you to let you know that our website inadvertently disclosed your email address due to a technical error. The issue has been fixed. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action.

Sincerely, Customer Service http://Amazon.com

—————

Has anyone else received something like this? The lack of any context, remediation, scope, etc. makes it almost seem like it was sent in error.

( 27 comments | 14 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by gjl7 on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:29AM (#18500585)

Same here. Two BIG questions - Where was my info disclosed and for how long. Nobody at Amazon knows. They know there was a problem and they fixed it. We're supposed to believe that's it? Like me saying, "By the way, I smashed your car but don't worry I got it fixed." Wouldn't you have questions that easily could be answered by me? Not only does it suggest information cover-up, Amazon is telling me to be like the other good sheep and let it go. While I realize most people don't care about their privacy anymore, I do and want answers to some simple questions that Scamazon refuses to answer.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by heinzW on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:43AM (#18500647)

It’s very bizarre. The idea that we will accept such a thin response to something like this is so crazy.

And the email says they disclosed my email address. Their agent said it was email or name first, then changed that to email, or email and name...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by TwoNineFive on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:47AM (#18500432)

I got one of these. It's authentic based on headers. I run my own mailservers.

I use a different mail address for my AWS stuff, so this is purely for my main Amazon consumer shopping account.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by heinzW on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:40AM (#18500631)

It’s genuine. The email arrived with me tonight also. Headers checked out ok.

Email read exactly as you say, but the story is actually that they leaked email or email and name. Of course nobody is gonna say how, when, volume of customers affected etc. They don’t seem to know the scale or exactly what happened in Customer Service.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by DestinyD77 on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:42AM (#18500407)

I received the exact same message, so I initiated a chat with Amazon to ask if the email did indeed come from them and he said it did. He said it was only the email address and no other information and assured me my account was safe and secure. I was unable to find out to whom my email was disclosed.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by ForeignEchelon on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:55AM (#18500913)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/amazon...

Same here

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by gjl7 on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @06:36PM (#18506918)

That link refers to a totally different incident which occurred over 6 weeks ago. They were quick with the info when they could pin it on an employee. Now Scamazon is being closed lip for some hidden reason.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by thanksfor on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:02AM (#18500496)

I received as well. This is really uninformative of Amazon. Are we just supposed to be okay with this? Sure give out our info, no repercussions, and thanks for being so clear and apologetic.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by beezle on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @11:51AM (#18503995)

Got it as well and it does look legit. They really should be saying under what circumstances the information was disclosed. Should I be preparing for an onslaught of spam?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by ActionScripter on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:19AM (#18500311)

I just got this as well, around 11 EST. It's oddly plain-looking, and the capital A in Amazon.com is unique as well. Still, it appears to have come from the correct domain.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by metamonkey on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:50AM (#18500441)

Received the same message at 9:14 MTN. Contacted Amazon support and they stated that it was sent by Amazon by default and there is nothing to worry about.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by heinzW on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:44AM (#18500650)

There is stuff to worry about- they disclosed NAMES AND EMAILS according to my communications with them

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by _liz on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:37AM (#18500388)

Received the same text, and sent about same time (8:10 PST) as others. Does seem like an error with the strange wording.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by alex_young on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @06:41AM (#18501920)

I received one. It's strange that they don't say anything about how it happened or who had access.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by Kashall on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:09AM (#18500731)

So the headers and such indicate that it was indeed sent by Amazon, however no one on Amazon support can verify this as it was also sent to the Security Team according to their email response. There is no news at this point and its most likely to be in some tech articles tomarrow. Keep a look out and comment anything you may find.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by ForeignEchelon on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:56AM (#18500917)

Same email received. Found this article.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/amazon...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by GayDingo on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @05:02AM (#18501431)

I got the same email. I complained to customer support and was given $5 credit.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by punchcard on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:26AM (#18500341)

Received the same email at 23:57:10 EST, Passed SFP, DKIM, and DMARC.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by ahorsburgh on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:17AM (#18500304)

I received this same email on my gmail account at 12:06 AM EST.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by nfrmn on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @06:42AM (#18501921)

Also received in UK 90 mins ago (9:57am GMT)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by FatherBoard on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @08:14AM (#18502397)

Also received in Italy 3 hours ago.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by masonic on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @02:05AM (#18500718)

Nothing here on either account.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by SparkLan on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:54AM (#18500679)

Hit our Exchange servers at 11:40pm from amazonses.com. Looks legit. Pretty wide spread from what I can tell...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by antirack on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @12:36AM (#18500381)

Received the same email. I am wondering if this is related to my shopping, or the AWS servers I am using.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by divinebaboon on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:29AM (#18500586)

I received mine at 12:42AM EST, weird looking email I gotta say, really thought it was spam.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by heinzW on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:57AM (#18500693)

Yes. ^^^ This!! ^^^ Bizarre how they think it’s ok because it was fixed.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Amazon “inadvertently disclosed your email address”? by Kashall on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @01:32AM (#18500600)

I just forwarded this to their [email protected] and I got a reply of:

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com to bring this to our attention.

Your message has been forwarded to our security department, and we will investigate the situation. Please note that you may not receive a personal response.

In all likelihood, the message you received was not sent to you by Amazon.com. We strongly advise that you not send any information about yourself back to this individual (especially your credit card number or any personal information).

Thank you again for taking the time to notify us of this situation.

[ Parent | on HN ]